Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Governments band together for truck parking at Kentucky rest area

Over the past couple months, I have written about cities
across the country that have taken truck parking seriously and have gone above
and beyond to accommodate truckers. Today, I would like to give credit to state
and federal agencies involved in getting the ball rolling for a busy rest area
under construction.

In January, a facility at a rest area off of southbound
Interstate 65 near Horse Cave, Ky., caught fire, damaging the building and
shutting down the rest area. This is par for the course, as these sorts of
things do happen. Except this rest area has approximately 110 parking spaces,
making it a significant hub for truckers.

Scott Grenerth, director of regulatory affairs for the
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, brought this to my attention.
He wanted to find out why parking for the rest area was shut down considering
work was only being done to the building. Couldn’t the state open up truck parking
in the meantime?

Yes and no.

No, the state could not immediately open up the parking lot.
On the surface, there seems to be no reason why they couldn’t, but there are
several reasons. According to Chris Jessie, spokesperson for the Kentucky Transportation
Cabinet, keeping truck parking alive was their goal from Day 1. Unfortunately,
two key components stood in the way: safety and money.

Regarding safety, security and lighting are limited when a
rest area facility is under construction. Jessie explained in most similar
scenarios, crime is an issue. Not necessarily because of the truckers, but
because of thieves and other criminals taking advantage of the lack of lighting
and security. With copper inside the building, the facility is a prime target.

Not deterred, KYTC still understood the importance of
parking at the rest area. For the past several months, KYTC has been working
with the Federal Highway Administration to obtain funding for a temporary
solution. Kentucky is a self-insured state, so the money just was not there at
the state level. Fortunately, the feds stepped in and allocated some money for
temporary facilities at the rest area.

This brings us to present day. Parking will reopen soon.
Jessie explained that truck parking should be available in a month or two.
Rather than use those small, blue portable toilets no one likes, KYTC is
looking to bring in large mobile trailers as a temporary facility. Best case
scenario, construction will be completed in approximately one year.

It has been months since the fire took out the rest area,
and parking has been unavailable since then. However, local, state and federal
governments have been working to fix that. And they did. It may not be the
fastest process, but there is some optimism knowing that truck parking was a
top priority for KYTC and the feds stepped up to the plate to help.

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